DUS Architects just announced plans to push 3D printer technology to the limits by printing an entire house in Amsterdam! The design team will use a gigantic printer called the KamerMaker to print a canal house right on-site. DUS plans to print the façade

DUS Architects just announced plans to push 3D printer technology to the limits by printing an entire house in Amsterdam! The design team will use a gigantic printer called the KamerMaker to print a canal house right on-site. DUS plans to print the façade and the first room by the end of 2013, putting them on track to producing the world's first 3D-printed house.

The KamerMaker, or room maker, is an eleven-and-a-half-foot custom 3D printer created by DUS that is housed inside of a disused shipping container. DUS plans to use the large-scale printer to print the canal house bit by bit, first testing the design on a small-scale model that is one twentieth the size of the proposed home.

DUS chose a developing area just north of Amsterdam as the home for the canal house. Fittingly, once completed the 3D printed canal house will serve as a hub for 3D-printed architecture research. The site will also serve as an event and educational space that invites visitors inside to learn about different kinds of 3D printers located on-site.

The 3D-printed canal house will also have a green aspect, as DUS plans to print some rooms from bioplastics, with rooms dedicated to specific organic materials like potato starch. Another room will be made from shredded plastic bottles and will be dedicated to 3D printing with recycled materials. Even if DUS Architects’ canal house isn’t finished in time to be the world’s first 3D-printed structure (it’s currently racing against entries from Softkill Design and Universe Architecture), the innovative project will be an important center for research on 3D-printed architecture.